Chapter 176: Chapter 171: Preparing to Go Home
After Ji Ma finished bathing, she went to torment George again.
“Actually, we don’t have any life-and-death conflicts. I just want to leave this damned place, and rounding it up, it’s equivalent to permanently destroying the crown fragments,” Ji Ma said, barefoot, drawing circles on his chest, with water droplets flowing down her instep, trickling over her toes and moistening his chest.
Ji Ma continued:
“I just almost stabbed you in the back.
“As the embodiment of order and goodness, you should forgive me. If you can forgive, just blink your eyes.”
Bound hand and foot, George bit down on a ball in his mouth, glaring at Ji Ma, not even blinking.
“Ah, can’t you be a bit more magnanimous? At least soften up a little,” Ji Ma said with a smirk, gently placing her bare foot on George’s forehead. Her toes were round and soft, with red nail polish.
George was so enraged that the ball in his mouth squeaked.
The louder it squeaked, the more amused Ji Ma became.
“Alright, you’re all squeezed out now. Just think of it as our breakup cannon; it was quite a nice experience, and now we should say goodbye.” Ji Ma inhaled the peach blossom fragrance in the air, moved her feet away, “I placed your sword three meters to your right, and your armor is beside the bed, all cleaned up.
“In about three hours, I anticipate the curse on you will disappear—well, it could be sooner. I’ll give you a small challenge. I’ve hidden the map here; take your time looking for it.”
After saying that, Ji Ma tucked her wet black hair behind her ear. Her black hair had grown down to her waist, but under an invisible force, it floated, and the water droplets fell off.
She walked past a gilded life-size mirror, gazing at the beauty in the reflection for a moment, cupping her chest with both hands, then turned to admire her waist, finally sending a kiss to the empty mirror:
“So beautiful, I really want to fuck myself to death.”
After saying that, she laughed happily, her bare feet touching the floor, yet not a speck of dirt was on them. With a flutter of her wings, she vanished into the air.
Before long, she entered the realm of dreams, reaching the Dream Palace.
As her feet touched the ground, Ji Ma checked the system time.
The transition from reality to the Dream Palace took her only six seconds, with no dizziness or negative states, and no “weakness.” Unlike during her platinum stage, where reaching the Dream Palace required first opening the entrance, she could now directly return to the Dream Palace during combat.
In simple terms, she could escape in just six seconds, and not even sleep could hinder her footsteps.
To catch her, one could only figure out a way to get into the “Dream Palace,” which was her territory, and she herself was a succubus. Fighting in a dream with a succubus was akin to battling an octopus in the deep sea.
“Really feeling safe now,” Ji Ma murmured to herself. “Unless George comes in with the holy sword to kill me. Otherwise…”
She intended to say, otherwise, no one could really kill me.
But with her rich experience, she quickly thought of several ways to prevent a diamond succubus from escaping to her Dream Palace.
Ji Ma closed her mouth, feeling that it was best to leave this world sooner rather than later. There were too many gods around, and there was no such thing as a foolproof defense mechanism.
However, before she left the world, Ji Ma had to prepare and make arrangements for the future.
Raising her hand, a golden and flower-carved urn landed in her palm.
Ji Ma kept her promise and placed Weilun’s ashes in the exquisite urn.
As for writing a bestselling novel that included her mother, making her a part of her harem and relegating her to the lowest status just for venting desire—well, Ji Ma planned to weasel out of that.
Not because she was afraid of offending the oldest vampire, but because writing a novel was too time-consuming and draining. She was about to go home; why bother with all that?
If you have the ability, Weilun, jump out of the urn and hit me.
Ji Ma thought shamelessly.
Her guest, Arcanis, was a long time coming.
Ji Ma opened her personal system to revisit her newly acquired abilities.
“Labyrinth Technique: You can now create an invisible labyrinth in a certain area, similar to a ghost bumping against a wall. As long as the victim fails to recognize the labyrinth, they will be trapped in it forever. You can also use the Labyrinth Technique directly on someone, making them disappear in place, trapped within the labyrinth like the arcane ‘Labyrinth Technique.’ The difference is, you can customize your labyrinth, achieving effects of confusion and misdirection.”
It seemed like another remarkable control method with great developmental potential.
“New Food: You can designate a certain emotion as your nourishment. You have designated pain as your food; the pain of others will sustain you and can restore your magical power.”
Although it looked like with the addition of restoring magical power, it was just an upgrade to consuming “lust,” Ji Ma didn’t want to please other men right now, so it was useful.
“Charm Aura: All creatures that witness or indirectly witness your appearance must use their willpower to overcome the feelings of affection surging within them. Otherwise, they will become infatuated with you, as if enchanted, potentially lasting a lifetime. All creatures with animosity towards you, if unable to overcome their affection, will feel guilty for wanting to harm such a beautiful being, suffering mental damage.”
It seemed quite powerful. Should I go experiment? Run to Adolph’s and pick the street with the most people to see the effects? If everyone on the street falls in love with me, I can have them hold a diving competition, where the more dives they do, the more they love me—wouldn’t that mean only one can survive?
Ji Ma was eager to try, but when she thought about it, doing so would definitely lead to a lot of bald battle priests chasing after her, so she dropped the idea.
Glancing down, she wanted to check for more new abilities.
Suddenly, Arcanis appeared on the high-backed red cushion chair across the table.
This silver-haired, short half-elf wore a black suit, sitting properly with a straight back, hands folded on the table.
Ji Ma couldn’t help but look at him a few more times; he gazed back at her with a shocked expression.
Ji Ma asked, “Are you Arcanis?”
The latter replied, “Are you Ji Ma?”
“Yes, I leveled up; now I’m a noble diamond.”
“What about Weilun?”
“Right here.” Ji Ma pointed to the urn. “She died and wished for her ashes to be handed over to you.”
Arcanis’s gaze shifted from Ji Ma’s face to the gilded urn, asking, “Really?”
“Really.”
“Yay! That’s awesome.” Arcanis jumped onto the table like a child. “I’ve been holding my breath; she’s finally dead.”
“Why are you dressed so formally today?”
“Going to make up for that damned wedding,” Arcanis plopped down from the table, saying, “She bought me this damned formal suit; it’s suffocating. I’m free now; if I want to see beautiful women, I see beautiful women.”
As he spoke, Arcanis looked at the two balls that had fallen onto the table and said loudly:
“Ji Ma! You are so %&$# sexy, it’s outrageous, even the dog poop on the street would go crazy chasing you, wanting to fuck you. Your face, your lips are so hot, just looking at you makes my stomach burn, as if I want to shove a red-hot iron rod into my belly.”
“Your sexual harassment sounds like torture.”
“Should I demonstrate with actions?”
“Then you might die.”
“Forget it.” Arcanis said, “I’ll go spend some money instead.”
It seemed that this “Charm Aura” had no effect on platinum-level powers; Arcanis was still the same as before.
“Have we finished the discussion?” Arcanis asked. “I remember you said that after this matter is settled, my contract will be completed.”
“What contract?”
“That dumb, nonsensical contract.” Arcanis said, “Your righteous knight fiancé forced me to sign it while wielding a sword.”
“It’s definitely nullified.” Ji Ma said, “I have one last thing to do. If today goes smoothly, you’ll never see me again; I will go far, far away.”
Arcanis waved his hand, saying, “Then farewell; I must be going too.”
“Wait, your wife’s urn.”
“What wife?” Arcanis said. “She was clearly an inmate under my nominal supervision, but in reality, it was the urn of my jailer. Just leave it here; if you want to take it and water some flowers or fertilize them, go ahead; I don’t want it.”
“Really?” Ji Ma raised the urn. “It’s very expensive.”
“Even if it’s expensive, I don’t want it; although I could exchange it for some money.”
“Then forget it.” Ji Ma said, “I’ll just find a random place outside and toss it; otherwise, she might resurrect from my Dream Palace, and that wouldn’t be good.”
“What, she can resurrect?”
“Of course.”
“For how long?”
“Who knows? Anyway, she said it’ll take a long time.”
“That’s bad news.” Arcanis extended his hand. “Give her to me; I’ll find the Sigma Church and get her the most sacred chapel, bury her beneath, and pour a big bottle of holy water on her ashes, so she doesn’t resurrect too early.”
“If she resurrects, wouldn’t she just tear the chapel apart?”
“By then, I’ll be long dead.” Arcanis said. “After death, I want to have my ashes scattered in the sea, and have a bishop bless me so she won’t pull me back up; she wouldn’t let me die in peace.”
“You’re quite thorough in your thinking.”
Predictably, there was no love between the two; there was only a pathological sense of possession and a deep-seated loathing.
Arcanis took the urn, opened it to take a look, almost fearing that Weilun would jump out from the pure white ashes. He took out a bottle of holy water, poured it in, and it hissed, releasing a puff of white steam.
“Indeed, holy water is useless.”
Arcanis accepted the urn and disappeared from Ji Ma’s sight.
By the time Arcanis opened his eyes again, it was already afternoon. He got up, touched the gilded urn, and slapped himself to confirm he wasn’t dreaming.
He let out a joyful shout, jumping off the caravan, yelling, “Aha! I’m free! I’m free!”
Hanging from a tree branch was a row of corpses, fresh, each with a sign that read, “I am a killer; I accept money to kill.”
These were the hired killers contracted by the nobles for revenge.
A middle-aged killer’s body, with a dark face and a black handlebar mustache, stared blankly at the joyful Arcanis.
Arcanis ran over, kissed its cheek, then turned and leaped onto his horse, whipping the horse’s rear end.
Two horses pulled the caravan, galloping swiftly, carrying Arcanis into the nearest city.
He left the caravan with a sign reading “Witch Hunter Van Helsing Exclusive” and ran quickly into the city, startling passersby who thought they were about to be run over by the horses.
He ran all the way to the pawnshop, panting as he knocked on the table, saying, “Hey, is anyone there?”
From behind the railing appeared an old man with white hair and a monocle. “Who are you?”
Arcanis was dressed in casual clothes today because he had killed the entire family of a certain noble and needed to keep a low profile—at least in terms of attire.
“I want to pawn something.”
The old man in the monocle scrutinized Arcanis from head to toe, his gaze lingering on the poorly patched clothing, and asked, “Pawn what?”
“My wife’s urn.” Arcanis placed Weilun’s urn on the black table. “How much?”
The old man frowned and asked:
“Seriously?”
“Of course, it’s serious.”
“Who would pawn their wife’s urn?” The old man said, picking it up. “Is there even any ashes inside?”
“Yes.”
“How unlucky.” The old man withdrew his hand. “Hey, you poor wretch, are you really that short on cash?”
“Yes.”
“Your wife was?”
“Once a noble, now fallen.”
“How tragic.” The old man imagined a noble girl falling for a poor boy, eloping only to discover her husband was a scoundrel.
“Three copper coins.”
“Why only three copper coins?” Arcanis retorted. “At least one silver coin; I need to buy some wine.”
“Then it’s one silver coin.” The old man tossed out an old silver coin. “Go drink your fill, you drunkard.”
“Alright.” Arcanis accepted the silver coin and dashed out of the pawnshop.
The old man shook his head, accepting the urn. Though he felt sympathy for the unfortunate woman, he smiled at the thought of receiving an urn worth at least two hundred gold coins for just one silver coin.
